NY Jets' 'Frat-Boy' Treatment of Female Reporter

The New York Jets parlayed a hard-hitting, outlaw sensibility into an
HBO series and countless magazine covers this NFL offseason. But the
club's boys-will-be-boys approach is coming back to haunt them, thanks
to tweets from TV Azteca reporter Ines Sainz detailing the boorish reception she
received at a recent practice. Sainz--a former Miss Universe contestant
known to pose in various states of undress--tweeted last Saturday that
the the squad's catcalls and attempts to accidentally-on-purpose collide
with her during a passing drill left her "very uncomfortable!" While
perhaps not the worst moment in the history of male-female relations,
the scene was regrettable enough for Jets owner Woody Johnson to
apologize to Sainz and the NFL league office to open an investigation into the matter.
And while Sainz doesn't understand what all the fuss is about, the media's response to the
incident has been swift and cutting:

No Defense The fact Sainz's
persona on TV Azteca leverages her sex appeal has no bearing on the
incident, argues The New York Times' William Rhoden. The "mindless
disrespect" her mere presence at Jets practice provoked "thousands of
young women throughout the sports industry who are not Miss This or Miss
That and aspire to be taken seriously as professionals."

Doing a
Job Sports Illustrated's Ann Killion marvels that female NFL
reporters still have to fight for the most basic of professional
courtesies. "The reporter did not ask for this behavior," says Killion.
"The reality is she came to work last Saturday wearing a pair of jeans
and a white blouse."

Same Old Story Sainz is provocative, but that doesn't
alter the substance of the debate, contends Salon's Tracy Clark-Flory. It is still possible, she notes, for a personality "who cashes in on her
sex appeal [to] actually be harassed, violated and abused."

Inexcusable
At Yahoo! Sports, Doug Farrar wonders why female
reporters are constantly forced to defend the way they present
themselves. Sainz is a professional doing a job, writes Farrar, and
shouldn't be subjected to "anyone else's standards except for her
own, her employer's, and those of the teams she covers."

Not
Getting the Message The rise of Deadspin and "Moneyball" hasn't been
enough to bring some athletes into the 21st century, writes Fanhouse's Kevin Blackistone. For all their apparent media savvy,
the team's behavior demonstrated a shocking lack of awareness about the "new journalistic environment...[where] protection doesn't shrink with
the fit of jeans or disappear with the height of a hemline."

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

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Ray Gustini is the author of Lucky Town, a forthcoming book about sports in Washington, D.C. He is a former staff writer for The Atlantic Wire.